Weekday musings on Practical Preparedness, Saving Money, Good Health, and Current Events.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Pandemic

With disaster planning, people think of tornadoes and earthquakes but overlook pandemics. What's a pandemic you ask? According to Wikipedia: A pandemic [from the Greek meaning "all" "people] is when an infectious disease spreads across a large region; even worldwide. But it is more than just a worldwide disease; the seasonal flu is not generally considered a pandemic. A pandemic is an aggressive disease, like smallpox and tuberculosis, affecting ever greater numbers of people until a cure is found or it burns itself out after massive deaths.

A worst case pandemic is a new disease (or mutation) that is easily spread, deadly, and with no cure. The US hasn't really seen this on a large scale since the Spanish flu of the 1910's although in some countries HIV has reached pandemic levels.

During a pandemic massive numbers of people become sick and/or die. The immediate effect is that hospitals become overwhelmed and unable to treat all patients. Then doctors & nurses become sick which makes the hospital problem even worse. Then services overall begin to worsen as workers for all types of jobs are sick, caring for the sick or dead. Bodies may pile up with no one to bury them. At some point fear may take over with everyone afraid to leave their home (or alternately fleeing the city to find health in isolation). The government may close schools, sport games, church services and other sites where people meet and mix to halt the spread of the disease.